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The outbreak of SARS 10 years ago has raised public crisis consciousness towards prevention of infectious diseases. The Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID) and The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care of the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) will jointly organize the ‘SARS A Decade On: A Conference for the Health Professionals’ on 12 March to address the positive aspects on the prevention of infectious diseases that SARS has brought to Hong Kong and other countries. The conference will offer an opportunity for health professionals to review the SARS experience and improve infectious disease preparedness. Renowned speakers from mainland China, the UK, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong and the World Health Organization (WHO), who were involved in the battle against SARS in 2003, will share their experience and views on various challenging aspects. Registration is now open for health professionals: http://ceid.med.cuhk.edu.hk/docs/SARS.pdf. 

‘SARS A Decade On: A Conference for the Health Professionals’ is jointly hosted by Prof. David Shu-cheong HUI, Head, Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, and Director, Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases; Prof. Sian GRIFFITHS, Director, The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care; and Prof. Joseph J.Y. SUNG, Vice-Chancellor and Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine, CUHK. Dr. Wing-man KO, Secretary for Food and Health, HKSAR Government, will give opening remarks for the conference. There are four major themes in the conference: public health and policy; clinical and virology; personal sharing of patients and frontline medical practitioners; as well as leadership and crisis management. Chairmen and speakers of these sessions include Dr. Che-hung LEONG; Prof. Richard YU, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK; Prof. Sir Cyril CHANTLER, Co-chairman of The SARS Expert Committee during SARS outbreak; Prof. Eng-kiong YEOH, The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, CUHK; Dr. Thomas TSANG, former Controller of the Centre for Health Protection, HKSAR; and Dr. Nikki SHINDO, WHO Headquarters, Switzerland. 

About The Stanley Ho Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID)

The Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases was established after the SARS outbreak in 2003 to conduct research and provide professional training in infectious diseases. The interdisciplinary group of experts on epidemiology, microbiology, clinical medicine and health economics has been contributing to infectious disease preparedness of society. The Centre has been committed to the research on various aspects of SARS including diagnostic methods, therapies, infection control measures, environmental factors, and social impacts of infectious diseases. In 2006, CUHK named the Centre after Dr. Stanley Ho in recognition of his generous donation to support research on infectious diseases. 

About The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care 

The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care was established on 1 August 2009 to replace the School of Public Health and the Department of Community and Family Medicine, with the mission of improving health of the population locally, nationally and internationally. The school is the first institution in Hong Kong to provide comprehensive education, training, consultation, and research in public health and primary care. The inclusion of primary care reflects the importance placed internationally on developing primary care as the basis for health service delivery and the School of Public Health and Primary Care will focus on developing research and teaching not only in Hong Kong but also mainland and in the region. 

Details of ‘SARS A Decade On: A Conference for the Health Professionals’: